OTT streaming will need satellite bandwidth: Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar collective

OTT streaming players pitched for greater use of satellite bandwidth to reach viewers.

In a consultation about satellite spectrum pricing, OTT streaming players pitched for greater use of satellite bandwidth to reach viewers. “Hundreds of millions of Indians rely upon [the media industry] for entertainment, information, education, religious participation and so on,” the Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) said in a filing. “Reaching these consumers, now and in the future, requires satellite-based distribution. In this, India is like every other large country on the globe.”

AVIA, which represents Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ Hotstar, and other Asian OTT players, was responding to a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India consultation paper. “There is no other country on the globe that actually auctions satellite frequency assignments,” AVIA said, echoing the sentiment of other global satellite service operators. 

“[U]nlike terrestrial communications, satellite spectrum is a completely shared resource among different satellite operator,” AVIA said. “Satellite frequencies are today re-used many, many times at the same geographic location. This re-use is governed by ITU [International Telecommunication Union] international rules… By auctioning and granting exclusive rights to one user, all the current extensive re-use would be gone and the spectrum resources available to India would be greatly reduced compared with today.”

5G services won’t serve rural users any time in the “near future,” AVIA said, urging the government to encourage satellite broadband systems, which usually rely on a constellation of internet-connected satellites in the sky to deliver internet access to remote areas. India currently only uses satellite broadband as ‘backhaul’ in places like the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, which is not yet connected terrestrially or with an undersea cable to the Indian mainland’s networks.

Other players who encouraged administrative assignment of satellite spectrum instead of auctioning it include the ITU-APT Foundation of India, a non-profit that comes under the ITU; the Broadband India Forum, which represents some large technology firms and internet service providers; the Manufacturers’ Association For Information Technology; the US-India Business Council; the New Delhi-based Satcom Industry Association; and Nasscom, the software industry association. 

The GSM Association, which represents mobile network operators globally, said that some spectrum that might go to satellite assignments should be reserved for terrestrial mobile networks, as 5G traffic growth trends might warrant more spectrum for this purpose in the future.